Have you ever seen a capybara nibble on a piece of paper while giving a cheeky look to its landlord? Meet Pumpkin, the star of the “capygram” show at Dark Wings Wildlife! This fun-loving capybara has been charming fans with her hilarious antics for ages. But Pumpkin isn’t alone — she’s got a crew of quirky friends like the grumpy goose Nibbler. This week, we chat with Marina Somma, the heart and driving force behind Dark Wings Wildlife. She’s on a mission to help us understand and love these amazing animals. Join us as we dive into the wild world of animal ambassadors and the joy they bring!
I’ve worked at a few different zoos and aquariums, and they often have a smaller “animal programs” department with dedicated animal ambassadors who do presentations. These inspired me to create a similar dedicated program sans the zoo! Our goals are to shine a spotlight on misunderstood species as well as showcase the individual personalities of each animal to allow our viewers to create a bond with each one! When you truly care about something, you are more passionate to protect it.
Pumpkin’s capygram videos
They happened entirely by chance through our awesome fans! One day, we had a fan ask if we could cheer up their friend with a paper “sign,” and Pumpkin sniffed it and checked it out. She did not try to eat the actual paper, by the way. After I sent them the video, they jokingly said it would be funny if she nibbled on the paper a bit, and the light bulb went off!
“What eviction notice?” — Pumpkin
The stars of Dark Wings Wildlife
To be honest, they really don’t need much of our help for them to stand out! They each have their own personalities that people connect with and even relate to.
Trixie is a little agent of chaos who loves nothing more than getting into trouble and staying all up in your business. We’ve also got our blind goose, Nibbler, who we don’t feature quite as much because he generally prefers not to be bothered! He might be blind and hand-raised, but he’s 100% grumpy goose!
The biggest misconception people have about the animals
It really depends on the animal! Lots of people realize crows are smart, and the internet has actually done a really good job dispelling the overarching connection between crows/ravens and death or bad omens. However, even people who know about their intelligence are surprised by just how much personality and spunk Trixie has! It’s not just her either, corvids as a whole have such BIG personalities.
Even the capybaras hold their own misconceptions. The biggest one being they they’re these big chill animals that are friends with everyone. They’re certainly big, but they are prey species and behave much more like a guinea pig or a deer than a dog. They take lots of socializing to be friendly, and with other capybaras they can be quite aggressive towards one another. Acclimating them to other animals can be a lot more time intensive and precarious than the average person would realize.
I’d really say it’s more of a conglomeration of all the experience I’ve had working with the public over the years. Whether it’s teaching people that snakes are helpful animals that can keep pests out of their yard when working at an aquarium or talking to a viewer now about how they never realized what cool animals crows are or how many different species existed.
About Dark Wings Wildlife
We started Dark Wings Wildlife with the idea of building this program one step and one animal at a time. My idea was to keep everything very small and intimate, growing our social media over time and utilizing those platforms to monetize until we developed a program that could pay for itself and grow it from there. Everything started completely out of pocket, with me working a full-time job while using my spare time to build our online presence. I still work a full-time job, but with our social media and capygrams we’ve been able to create a completely self-sustaining program that not only pays for our animal’s day-to-day care but is also allowing us to expand and grow. We’re in the process of fencing a new capy pasture right now, and we just purchased a pool upgrade that we’re working on getting installed in the coming months!
As for my favorite part about working with our animals, it’s a combination of the awesome connection that I can share with our viewers as well as building such strong bonds with the animals themselves. Seeing all the adorable nuances of their personalities and being able to share that with millions of people is absolutely amazing. Something as simple as Cheesecake having a ridiculously sassy-looking side eye that brings joy to people on a daily basis can not only work to bring people happiness but also help foster a love for these animals!
Plans for Dark Wings Wildlife
I’d love to see everything continue to grow and expand exactly the way we’ve been seeing it do! A more long-term goal is to continue to expand as our program expands, taking in more ambassadors — hopefully, a few non-releasable native species as well, while still keeping that hands-on approach that allows our viewers to connect with each individual animal.
We are a 501c(3) nonprofit, but I’ve always tried to keep our program running without relying on or asking for public donations. The best way for people to support us in this journey is to simply follow us, like our content, and interact with our posts via commenting and sharing! Doing this is a simple and easy (and free) way to help us reach more people. You can also support us by ordering a capygram yourself! The best way to do that is to reach out via Instagram message or email us. We are also creating a Patreon for those fans who want to support us further and get more connected to your favorite animals!
Our email is darkwingswildlife@gmail.com, and you can find our brand new Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DarkWingsWildlife.
We thank Marina for sharing their story with us 🧡
You can follow Dark Wings Wildlife on IG and TikTok, support them via Patreon, and check out their merch shop!
Stay tuned for more inspiring Furrend stories, where we celebrate those making a difference in the pet community.
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